Apr 21
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Vitus had found one of the labyrinth’s many dead ends, hidden in a dog-leg corridor, a single room with a single door. At the far end, a wooden cover hid a deep well.
(So sorry for the delay!)
seen from China
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🌹
Vitus had found one of the labyrinth’s many dead ends, hidden in a dog-leg corridor, a single room with a single door. At the far end, a wooden cover hid a deep well.
(So sorry for the delay!)
The duel was fast and one-sided. One undead, a greatsword wielder, had little armor and less nerve. Faced with a relentless phantom in moonlight blue, she was soon disarmed, soon begging. "Please," she gasped. "I didn't - it was one time - I won't do it again." Her raised, empty hands were withered, close to hollowing. "I didn't know what would happen. Here. Take it!" She scrabbled in her bag, found a small item, and tossed it at the invader's feet. The phantom halted and picked it up, a spark of red in a blue-limned gauntlet. The orb was cracked, not whole - not hers. The story was obvious: she'd used one and found success against an even more bumbling undead. The outraged cries of the victim had been heard.
Yet she was no frightening man-hunter, no treacherous Darkwraith. With luck, with mercy, she would not become one. "You're not a monster," Ifsahan said, and their voice echoed soft inside the helmet. "I believe you." It was not the gesture that did it, not the red eye traded for an escape. It was the cringing of her hands and of her soul. When she flinched back from death, she flinched with all of her.
The hunger they knew so intimately did not afflict her; in her, it had never truly been fed. The blue phantom faded away at the bottom of a fencer's bow, and left her to collect herself. * The Blades were few, but the new moon drew them together. Silver rings flashed on fingers; silver-white talismans gleamed in belts, and a rare few wore pendants worked to resemble the bow of the waxing moon.
For the occasion, Ifsahan had taken their helmet off, and stood with curly black hair wisping out of the worn scarf they wore beneath. The ring was on their finger, of course, but it was difficult to see inside the heavy gauntlet.
Another Blade curled her lip and jabbed a finger at the Book. "You don't fail this often when you're summoned. You're letting them go, aren't you."
Ifsahan met her glare with steady calm, but she wasn't done.
"Every sinner you spare can go on to do even worse. You'd rather let it fester than finish it. Their sins stain your hands. You're a monster."
A monster was both lighthouse and shoal, both brilliant signpost toward safety and the very danger the light signified. A monster was story made reality, sustained on shed blood and a vortex of other souls. Monster, she said, and they felt it as keenly as a rapier's point.
"Like none you will ever know," they agreed.
Yet it was better to feel the work, to know its significance, than it was to float from one summoning to another, barely remembering the hunt, the prey, the kill. Whose soul could ride so lightly between worlds? Who but a monster would dare to disturb that sweet forgetfulness? "I am no monster," she spat, offended. "No," Ifsahan agreed, and turned to go. "You aren't."
Hello Six, I saw your post about writing for OM so I hope you don't mind me dropping in ;v; could I get the brothers reacting to am MC who has decided to cut off their hair? I've been going through a gender identity crisis and it made me feel better to chop off most of my hair and I was wondering if they would still like me or not :')
hii! as someone who did that, a personal note: hair grows, and if you don't like it short it can grow back! you should definitely go for it! now, to the headcanons!
Demon Brothers seeing MC chopping off their hair
Lucifer:
At first, he only sees the hair chopped and thinks it's a practical thing.
After all, shorter hair is easier to maintain, easier to wash, to dry, to keep it neat.
So he of course tells you you look wonderful and moves on. He likes how it looks, you seem happy, it's none of your business.
If you tell him you cut it off for gender confusion reasons, he will be more attentive.
He will make sure to stop gendered language with you altogether, unless you specifically want him to use a certain gender as your preferred.
He will teach you how to style your hair, specially if you want it to look more masculine. He has a soft spot for more elegant and formal styles.
If you do end up coming out as transmasc or nonbinary, he will be taking you to buy new clothes, and he will definitely help if you want to medically transition.
Overall, this man is the Avatar of Pride in every way possible. He wants you to feel good about yourself, to love yourself fully, and he will do whatever you need to hell you reach that point.
Mammon:
This boy is head over heels about you. If let your hair grow to your feet, or shave it, or chop it, or even have a monk haircut, he will love it because of how much he loves you.
It will be like pulling teeth to get him to admit it, tho. He will look at you and go "ya liked my hair so much you decided to copy it, huh, MC?"
If he notices you're hesitant about it, he will hype you up, however. He also wants you to feel your best.
If you asked for his help he will be over the moon, but he will destroy your hair. Keep him away from scissors.
The moment he finds out it's gender questioning, he will be all over you, asking about names and pronouns, all things you might wanna try it out.
He wants to take you out to get new clothes, binders, pride merch, all he can. It's part wanting to spend some money and part wanting to support you.
In the end of the day, he just wants you to feel happy and whole. He is your first guy, he will always want your best.
Plus, your new hair is very stimmy. He cannot stop petting it!
Leviathan:
He knows exactly what's going on from the moment you show your hair. He wants so badly to tell you he understands, that he feels the same, that he has questioned himself and his identities many times.
But he is the most awkward person alive, it comes out as "a normie haircut for a normie" and he wants to dig a hole and stick his head on the ground.
Once he takes his foot off his mouth, however, he is your biggest hypeman.
He will find every videogame and anime character that is trans, every gender non conforming, even characters that questions their gender.
He will try any pronoun or name you want, and he will suggest names he thinks you might like.
He tends to shove his nose in your hair when you're cuddling him, so having it shorter makes this easier for him.
He ends up doing a lot of research on the internet so he goes from mildly confused to expert in two days.
Overall, he's trying his best, and he will do anything he can, even if he's very awkward in the beginning.
Satan:
He loves your new hair! He will tell you outright, and he will be excited for your new look. He isn't particularly loud about it, but he will be honest about how much he likes it.
If you tell him you chopped it off for gender issues, he will be sympathetic to you.
This man has questioned every little bit of his identity, as he feels like he is lesser as a subset of Lucifer. He has definitely questioned his gender, therefore, he's been there.
He will be quoting Simone de Beauvoir to you: "you aren't born a woman, you become one." He will specially stress how this turns on any gender, how socialization plays a big part on how you are gendered, and he will ramble on and on about how gender works if you let him.
Surprise. He's well versed in gender theory. He has read every book about LGBT experiences he could get his hands on.
He's another one who's trying out pronouns, names, clothing, terms with you. He is excited you trust him in this journey.
Overall he treats gender and sexuality as fluid and natural, and you will never find him confused when talking about gender and sexuality issues. He's got your back.
Asmodeus:
He is immediately squealing about your hair! Oh, you look soo adorable. You look so nice with this cute hair... He wants to style it in so many ways.
Oh, you are having gender issues? Asmo will hear you out. You will be sitting there, with a face mask while he does mani and pedi for you, and you will pour your heart out for him.
At some point, you might notice he is quiet, even if he hasn't stopped treating you right. You ask if he's okay, and...
"You can do that??"
Congratulations, you gave Asmo a lot to think about.
He isn't the most confirming man, as he is a man in the sense of that was was given to him. Giving him options will get him to actually question it.
You two will probably go through it together, trying out new things, and turns out, Asmo is nonbinary! None gender with left boy, apparently.
No matter where you end up in the gender spectrum, he will always support you as he loves you for who you are.
He will also be incredibly thankful to you helping him out with that! He will spoil you endlessly for helping him figure out a bit more about himself.
Beelzebub:
He didn't notice the hair first. He noticed how happier you looked, and that made him smile too. Then you showed off your hair.
He fell in love with you again.
He thinks it looks so sweet on you, he just wants to pet you and he is all awwing, then you tell him about why you cut your hair.
He feels really bad about the idea you'd feel so confused and anguished. He decides then and there he will help you get it over as quickly as you can.
He will be trying out names and pronouns, get you new clothes, getting you aids like binders, he will be doing research, everything he can.
You will have to tell him this takes some time and he can't rush it.
He takes you to work out with him to see if that takes your mind off things, will get you delicious food. Everything to comfort you.
Once you get to an understanding, he will be cheering with you. Your happiness is his prime objective, even if he can't quite understand how you're feeling.
Belphegor:
He is ecstatic about your haircut.
When you cuddle him, if you are the small spoon, your hair is usually got into his nose, so a short hair is way better for that.
If you tell him why you cut your hair, he will have a moment of confusion, then launch on questions.
He wants to know how you think so he can help you out on figuring it out.
Reading can be exhausting to him, so he ends up watching a lot of deviltube videos about transgender people, but will always put your experiences first.
He pretends like he doesn't care, but he would do anything to make you happy. Therefore he's always looking for ways to make you more comfortable about yourself.
Whenever you end up on the spectrum, he will not mind. You're his companion, so he just wants you to be with him, at your happiest and more comfortable.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
hey yall want some fluff
✅ and 💕?
From the fic writing ask game!
✅ list one or two favorite lines you’ve written and explain why they’re your favorite
Sleep took New Londo in the afternoon.
This is one of those short, punchy lines following up a huge chunk of description. It's meant to be uncanny and I think it works in its context.
At last, a signal - the divine knight pointed upward, long arm reaching for the blue heavens above. The crowd roared so loudly that the gladiator could feel it in his own chest.
If you know the context, this is a knight whose arm movements - very much not pointing upward - became iconic. I really enjoy mixing sense descriptions; the POV character here just came out of a very intense situation, and this signal shows his victory. Of course he feels it in his body!
My excessive fondness of the em-dash is also on display, lol.
💕 whats your favorite part of your writing process?
I like the puzzle-solving moment of "oh THAT's why they did that." The snap-into-place of a motivation or an action, that makes an entire arc suddenly make sense. I really, REALLY like going back and weaving in indicators that it's going to happen. If I can create the conditions for that moment to occur for a reader, I'll be a very happy author.
I also like the sort of... deep in the vibes, words flowing like wine, trying to spin out scenes in the full-simulation VR experience in my head. Those moments are rare, but they're wonderful.
Tell me about "The Worldbuilding Thing"
For the title meme!
The Worldbuilding Thing is a Dark Souls short fic collection, meant to explore Anor Londo at its height, after Gwyn's sacrifice but before the fading of the Flame. I talk about it a bit more here.
Here's a snippet in work:
Tolly raised the coals to working heat and dropped the scrap from the silver armor into a ready crucible. It would surrender to heat, if not to force. She could not watch, not with the flame as fierce and bright as it was, but she knew the time to anneal steel. That would do for a start. Outside, Anor Londo was waking up. Sandy and Rina dashed by, pursued by their father, all three laughing. She called and waved to all three, wishing them well in their day. Somewhere in the markets, a cock was crowing. The bakers would be in full swing. Passers-by began to look more alert, less exhausted, as the folk who supplied the market street gave way to those who came to shop. Her sand-glass was empty. Tolly took the crucible out with tongs and peered in. Uncoated before the fierce heat, its surface had gone to an even, sooty black. The edges had slumped, but the material was harder than ever.
Fic writer never have I ever: trope - Magnificent Bastard
I have in fact written fic with Jedao in it. :D
I hope to do him justice. He's as magnificent as they get.
For the Title Meme: dear Sixums, do tell us about the Hunter's Folio! Pretty please, tell us!
From the title meme! For years (uh, maybe since I started playing strongly narrative video games? I've found record of this idea re: Xenogears) I've thought how cool it would be to make a notebook as I go, recording my thoughts and reactions, finding the places I'm wrong and going back to annotate them as I play.
I wished I'd done that for Dark Souls, but that was 2020 and everything was fucked; I didn't do it for Dark Souls 2, because it was 2022 and everything was still fucked.
Now it's 2024 and I'm doing it for Bloodborne. :)
The Hunter's Folio is a sketchbook/notebook that contains in- and out-of-world observations, sketches, and a rough log of progress. If I have theories, I'll write them there (I will have theories, I can feel it percolating in the back of my head).
I'm deeply enjoying putting the effort in for what looks like a spectacularly good game.